The Renters Rights Act 2025 (Act), which came into force on 1 May 2026 aims to give private tenants greater security and protection from eviction, in many respects aligning the position with business tenants who are in occupation under a protected business tenancy. 

For insolvency practitioners (IPs) appointed as administrators or liquidators of a business with real estate assets that have residential tenants in situ, the changes introduced by the Act are important to understand, not least because they enhance the rights of tenants, change the grounds on which a landlord can obtain possession of a property and place new or additional obligations on a landlord. 

We will be producing an overview of the key changes that IPs should be mindful of when considering an appointment over a company that has a residential property portfolio, but for IPs that are already appointed over such a business is there anything they should be doing now?

One of the new obligations introduced by the Act is a requirement to give residential tenants an “Information Sheet”.  Landlords (and therefore IPs) must do so before 31 May 2026.  Failure to do could result in a fine of up to £7,000.

Our real estate litigation team explain in this Insight when the requirement to provide the Information Sheet will apply and what it says.  It is important to note, that the Information Sheet that should be provided is the one that is available on the government website.  The government emphasis that:

  • A copy must be given to every tenant named on the tenancy agreement.
  • The Information Sheet is only valid when downloaded from [their] page.
  • You must give the exact PDF found at the top of [the] page.
  • You must provide this to the tenants by either:
    • printing a hard copy, which is posted or given to the tenants by hand
    • sending the PDF electronically as an attachment, for example, to an email or text message
  • You must not email or text a link to the PDF to the tenant, as this will not be valid.

Checking that the Information Sheet is properly served, and that actual or deemed service has occurred before 31 May 2026 is also important.

For IPs that were appointed before 1 May 2026, or are appointed before 31 May 2026 it is important to check whether the Information Sheet has been sent and that there is evidence of service.  If it has not been sent, or it is not possible to clearly ascertain the position, IPs should send it (or re-send it) following appointment to make sure that the tenant has received it before 31 May 2026.

The effect of failing to provide the Information Sheet can invalidate certain possession notices and/or delay the possession process, adding time and costs to the insolvency – as well as creating the risk of a fine. 

The question of a fine for failure to send the Information Sheet is an interesting one – if the directors of the insolvent business failed to send the Information Sheet, any fine is likely to be treated as an unsecured claim, but if the IP could have and should have sent the Information Sheet, could that fine be payable as an administration expense – possibly, remember the Scottish case of Doonin Plant?

Slightly side-stepping whether failure by an IP to send the Information Sheet would cause any fine to be payable as an expense, the better approach is to send it to avoid the question arising in the first place.